Newcastle's reinvigorated quayside isn't the North-east's only attraction. These massive regeneration schemes aim to lure industry and jobs back into the region.
"We're aware that in nearly every league table, the North-east is near the bottom for business start-ups," says Jonathan Blackie, director of strategy and external affairs at One NorthEast, the government regeneration agency for the region.

It is a situation the agency is keen to change. In the two years since its creation, One NorthEast has been responsible for introducing some of the biggest and most exciting regeneration schemes in the country.

The region is an area of extremes. For people with jobs it offers an attractive quality of life: cheap housing, limited traffic congestion and easy access to the countryside. But for the jobless, prospects are bleak: the North-east has the lowest proportion of people of working age in employment in the UK.

About 70% of the population live in conurbations along the rivers Tyne, Wear and Tees that sprang up to serve the area's traditional industries: mining, shipbuilding, steel and heavy industry. The rapid post-war decline in these industries coupled with competition from cheap imports means these are now some of the most deprived communities in the country.

In a bid to revive the flagging local economy and improve employment prospects, One NorthEast is trying to attract knowledge-based industries, new types of manufacturing and IT-based ventures to encourage the start-up of fast-growth businesses. It is not a new solution: "The government was prompted to act as early as the 1930s to help diversify the region's economy with the formation of Team Valley," explains Blackie. Team Valley Trading Estate near Gateshead is home to businesses as diverse as printers and plastics manufacturers. The initiative was highly successful and the estate is now full to bursting.

One NorthEast is keen to repeat Team Valley's success. However, for a region littered with the spectres of its industrial past, there are surprisingly few suitable sites and almost none attractive enough to draw private investment into the region. There is an oversupply of older industrial floor space, but most of it is now obsolete and unsuitable for modern offices. In mid-1999 more than 1 million m2 of such space was available for rent, much of it close to the workforce in Tyneside, Teesside and Wearside.

With so many empty and derelict buildings, developers looking to construct modern premises face not only a shortage of suitable sites but also the cost of decontaminating them before construction can begin.

One NorthEast is trying to change this situation by preparing sites close to major conurbations. It is undertaking the clean-up and preparation of large brownfield sites to draw in the much-needed private investment that has, so far, eluded the region. Three of the largest schemes are featured below:

New life for Middlesbrough docks

At Middlesbrough on the River Tees, work is under way to reclaim and decontaminate a 28 ha site at Middlehaven near the town centre to create an “urban village” and, it is hoped, up to 2000 jobs. English Partnerships acquired the site from the now-defunct Teesside Development Corporation in 1998 and is funding the £18m scheme through a European Regional Development Fund grant. Works include the treatment of contaminated dock silts, partial infilling of the dock, new dock walls and dock gates, demolition of derelict buildings, construction of a new promenade around the dock and a new access road. Once the scheme is complete, by the end of the year, it will release 28 ha of development land. Middlesbrough council has already granted outline planning permission for a 13.4 ha mix of commercial, leisure and residential properties. A further £16m has been allocated by One NorthEast to a five-year venture with Middlesbrough council to aid redevelopment beyond the centrepiece dock area. Proposals include 1000 new houses, 50 000 m2 of office accommodation, a new primary school, leisure facilities and a railway station. Much like One NorthEast at Newburn (page 48), English Partnerships is acting as a facilitator to bring the site up to a standard in which it will prove attractive to private investors.

Reviving Sunderland’s fortunes

On the banks of the River Wear, One NorthEast is chairing an ambitious £700m scheme to breathe new life into the city of Sunderland. The Sunderland Area Regeneration Compact, or ARC, is a blueprint for the city’s economic and social revival that resulted from a year-long study commissioned by the trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers following the closure of the Vaux Brewery and the Groves Cranes factory. Intended to create up to 10 000 new jobs and result in 1000 new homes being built over a 15-year period, the scheme will take in an area of more than 17 km2 from the A19 trunk road to the port along the south bank of the River Wear. As with the Newburn Riverside development, capital funding will be used to acquire and reclaim land, develop sites, improve the infrastructure and invest in housing and telecommunications. The project will concentrate on six major brownfield redevelopment opportunities:
  • On the site of the old Vaux Brewery, a mixed-use business and residential quarter will be created complete with a four-star hotel, civic space and a pedestrian footbridge
  • At the former Groves Cranes factory site, the plan is to build a digital business park by installing a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure. A neighbourhood of 800 private sector homes will be created nearby
  • At West Pennywell, the successful industrial estate will be extended and a new one created
  • The old town along the banks of the river will be designated a conservation area and the historic waterfront will be opened up to the public
  • Travel into the city centre will be improved by an extension to the Tyneside Metro system
  • For the port itself, two options are under consideration: the expansion of the existing dockside trading estate or the creation of a new business park and residential area, mirroring the development north of the river. Lead consultant EDAW was responsible for the investment framework and for assessing what would be the most effective way of developing the town. As in Hull and Newcastle, the agency plans to use international architecture competitions to raise the profile of the city. “We are just about to begin phase two of the scheme which involves setting up the regional development company and putting in place the business plan for the scheme,” says an ARC spokesman.

    • Newcastle brownfield

    The development of Newburn Riverside Industry Park on the western fringe of Newcastle is the largest brownfield reclamation scheme in the country and, after the Greenwich Peninsula, the most expensive. The scheme will receive more than £46m of public investment in the hope of generating more than £100m of private sector investment and creating up to 5000 jobs. On the banks of the River Tyne, the site used to house the Stella B power station and the Anglo Great Lakes graphite plant. Its situation close to the A1, with its north-south links, and near the A69 coast-to-coast road makes it ideal for industrial use. The project is being led by One NorthEast in partnership with Newcastle City Council. The agency is investing £33.5m to reclaim and service the site, £7.1m of which was provided by European development funding. The city council has also secured £5.2m capital challenge funding towards the cost of building a £10m dual carriageway site access road and a new bridge over a Tyne tributary known locally as Lemington Gut. “It’s a good example of the city council working with the development agency,” says Kevin Jonas, city council member for development and transport. The scale of the project is perhaps a testimony to the need for a regional development agency with the resources to undertake such a massive investment. Jonas remarks: “Would a developer redevelop a site like that? I don’t think so, because the development costs are disproportionate.” However, David Clelland, MP for Tyne Bridge, fears that playing on the region’s decline to get government handouts for regeneration may dissuade industry from locating there. “Overplaying our hand can lead to a distorted image of our area,” he says. Work started on decontaminating the site in January 2000. More than 3 million m3 of soil will have to be moved and decontaminated. “The excavation will be equivalent to filling London’s Royal Albert Hall over 30 times,” explains Alan Taylor, project manager for One NorthEast. The £22.5m reclamation contract for the 92 ha site went to Taylor Woodrow, working in partnership with Normanton, Yorkshire, reclamation specialist Webfell and consultant WSP. Remediation work is due to be completed in early 2002. The scheme is due for completion in 2007, by which time the site is expected to provide more than 180 000 m2 of industrial space. The first plot has been sold to developer UK Land Estates, which plans to provide 29 000 m2 of industrial and office accommodation.

    North East Review